BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Jeff Landry confirmed his help on Tuesday of restarting the custom of bringing Louisiana State College’s reside tiger mascot onto the soccer area forward of dwelling video games.
It has been practically a decade since a Bengal Tiger has been rolled out in a cage below the lights of Loss of life Valley, LSU’s famed Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge the place the college’s soccer staff performs. College officers haven’t publicly stated whether or not they’re keen to revive the custom, however that did not cease Landry from sharing his personal opinion when requested by reporters.
“I feel the chance to deliver our mascot again onto that area is an unbelievable alternative,” Landry stated throughout an unrelated information convention on Tuesday.
Folks for the Moral Remedy of Animals has vehemently objected to the concept. In early September, the group despatched a letter to Landry urging towards the custom, describing it as merciless and harmful to the mascot’s welfare and including that tigers are “naturally solitary animals who don’t belong in rowdy soccer stadiums.”
“Going again to the unhealthy previous days of utilizing a wild animal as a sideline sideshow in 2024 is the very last thing LSU ought to do, and PETA is interesting to Gov. Landry to drop this boneheaded concept,” the letter learn.
On Tuesday, Landry stated that “all people that has some nervousness over this must settle down.”
The Related Press emailed a spokesperson for LSU, the athletics division and the college’s Faculty of Veterinary Medication for a remark, but it surely didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.
For years, the college’s reside mascot would trip by means of the stadium in a journey trailer “topped by the LSU cheerleaders” earlier than dwelling video games, primarily based on details about the mascot on the LSU Athletics’ webpage. Earlier than coming into the stadium, the cage, with the tiger nicknamed Mike in it, can be parked subsequent to the opponent’s locker room — forcing the visiting staff to cross it.
A number of the reside mascots even traveled with the staff — delivered to space video games, the 1985 Sugar Bowl and the Superdome in New Orleans in 1991.
Following the loss of life of the college’s tiger, Mike VI, in 2016, LSU introduced that future Mike the Tigers would now not be introduced onto the sphere. In response to the college’s web site, Mike VI, who died from a uncommon type of most cancers, had attended 33 of 58 dwelling between 2007 and 2015.
Whereas the college’s present reside mascot, Mike VII — an 8-year-old and 345-pound tiger that was donated to the college from a sanctuary in 2017 — is just not introduced onto the sphere for video games, guests can nonetheless see the tiger in his 15,000-square-foot enclosure, which is on the campus and subsequent to the stadium.
Previously, animal rights teams have referred to as on LSU to cease holding reside tiger mascots. The varsity says it’s offering a house to a tiger that wants one whereas additionally working to teach folks about “irresponsible breeding and the plight of tigers saved illegally and/or inappropriately in captivity within the U.S.,” in accordance with the athletics’ web site.
Louisiana is just not the one college that’s dwelling to a reside mascot. Different examples embody Yale College’s Good-looking Dan, a bulldog; College of Texas at Austin’s Bevo the Longhorn, who seems on the sphere earlier than soccer video games; and College of Colorado’s Ralphie the Buffalo, who runs throughout the sphere with its handlers earlier than kickoff.
